We Baked: Blueberry Orange Flaxseed Baked Milk Muffins

Each week I've been baking something with milk in it so we can desensitize T's immune system.  Her doctor recommended that she eat something baked with milk several times a week, and the study he cited called for eating baked milk every day.  So of course, being an overachiever, I decided we should aim for every day, too.

We had an abundance of blueberries in the fridge - in typical toddler fashion, she used to eat them by the pint, but now wants nothing to do with them.   We also had leftover butter from the sugar cookies we made last week and some milk, which worked perfectly for the Blueberry Muffin Recipe in The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh.

Because I didn't want to stuff my toddler with sugar, I made the muffins smaller (20 muffins rather than 12) and substituted ground flaxseed for some of the sugar (evil mama, I know!).  Next time I might try subbing in some whole wheat flour as well.

BabyT was a huge help, as was her friend Tubby who is visiting us for the weekend from daycare.  She enjoyed lining the muffin tin, adding the dry ingredients and the first 30 seconds of sifting.  She also ate a bunch of fresh blueberries while we waited for the milk mixture to cool.  Tubby mostly sat around and tried not to get dirty.

I couldn't really taste much orange flavor after the muffins were baked.  I'm not sure why, since the batter did taste orange-y.  The muffins are also plenty sweet, even after reducing the sugar by 1/3.  You can't taste the flaxseeds at all (which was my goal).  I think I mixed the batter too vigorously because they are a little dense after cooling. 

They are divine when warmed up, or fresh from the oven.  We'll totally make these again, and bet that frozen blueberries will work well too.


Blueberry Orange Flaxseed Baked Milk Muffins
Recipe adapted from The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh
(makes 20 smaller muffins or 12 big ones)

1c whole milk
0.5c unsalted organic butter
Grated orange peel from a YUMMY organic Cara Cara orange, about 3/4 of the surface
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 organic eggs

2c unbleached flour
0.5c sugar (we used superfine baker's sugar)
0.25c ground flaxseed meal (we used Bob's Red Mill)
2.5tsp baking powder
0.75tsp salt
1.25c fresh blueberries

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 2x12 regular sized muffin cups with paper liners (you'll probably only need about 20).

2.  Combine milk, butter, vanilla, and orange peel in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until butter is melted.  Cool until just warm to the touch and whisk in the eggs. (I found it helpful to beat the eggs in a small bowl separately).

3.  Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, flaxseed meal, and salt into a BIG bowl.  Add milk mixture and stir gently until just blended.  Add blueberries and gently stir.

4.  Use a small ice-cream scoop to fill muffin cups a bit more than half full.  Bake each muffin tray separately, for about 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.  Muster all your patience to let them cool enough to shove them in your mouth.  Note:  the blueberries get wicked hot.